The Museum’s collection management, research, exhibitions and programs aim to achieve the outcome of increasing awareness and understanding of Australia’s history and culture. The Museum does this by:
- conducting activities to ensure that it has a relevant and high-quality collection of objects and associated material. This includes maintaining the collection in appropriate condition, and ensuring it is available to be used in exhibitions and other programs
- conducting activities that allow visitors to access objects in the collection, or information about objects and Australian history and cultures, through the provision of exhibitions and programs in Australia and overseas, and online access to the collection
- undertaking research to enhance awareness of Australian history and cultures, and maintaining a print and web publishing program.
The annual PBS specify performance measures for the Museum for acquisitions, storage of the National Historical Collection, conservation treatments, documentation of the collection, access to the collection and visitor satisfaction levels.
Performance summary
The Museum measured its performance against the standard set of key performance indicators that are applied across national collecting institutions within the Attorney-General’s portfolio.
| Key performance indicator | 2014–15 Target | Actual |
|---|---|---|
| Number of visits to the Museum (does not include school visits) | 691, 627 | 1,822,405 |
| Number of paid on-site visits | 81,221 | 78,175 |
| Number of unpaid on-site visits | 485,366 | 499,567 |
| Number of on-site visits by preschool students | 350 | 726 |
| Number of on-site visits by primary school students | 72,500 | 72,989 |
| Number of on-site visits by secondary students | 17,000 | 10,626 |
| Number of on-site visits by post-secondary education students | 425 | 1,132 |
| Number of visits to the website | 1,299,000 | 1,694,318 |
| Number of off-site visits to the organisation | 125,040 | 1,246,185 |
| Number of formal overseas initiatives | 3 | 3 |
| Number of other overseas initiatives | 305 | 409 |
| Operational funding (as a % of total funds from operations and government) | 87% | 86% |
| Capital funding from government (as a % of total funds from operations and government) | 4% | 4% |
| Cash sponsorship income (as a % of total funds from operations and government) | - | - |
| Other cash fundraising income (as a % of total funds from operations and government) | - | - |
| Other fundraising income (as a % of total funds from operations and government | 9% | 10% |
| Expenditure on collection development (as a % of total expenditure) | 14% | 12% |
| Expenditure on other capital items (as a % of total expenditure) | 16% | 11% |
| Expenditure on other (i.e. non-collection development) labour costs (as a % of total expenditure) | 30% | 34% |
| Other expenses (as a % of total expenditure) | 42% | 43% |
| Number of acquisitions in the reporting period | 650 | 676 |
| Total number of objects accessioned in the reporting period | 750 | 1,192 |
| Total number of objects awaiting accessioning at the end of the reporting period | 13,000 | 12,847 |
| % of total objects (acquired in the reporting period) accessioned | 4% | 3.4% |
| % of total collection available to the public | 48% | 47.7% |
| % of total collection available to the public online | 43% | 44.01% |
| % of total collection available to the public on display | 4% | 3.48% |
| % of total collection available to the public on tour | 1% | ≤1% |
| % of total objects assessed/condition checked in the reporting period | 1.4% | 1.57% |
| % of total objects conserved in the reporting period for preparation for display or digitisation | 0.1% | 0.55% |
| % of total objects treated for preservation purposes only in the reporting period | 0.3% | 0.58% |
| % of the total collection digitised | 87% | 85.87% |
| Number of people participating in public programs | 33,000 | 43,556 |
| Number of people participating in school programs | 90,275 | 85,473 |
| Number of organised education programs delivered onsite | 550 | 1,598 |
| Number of program packages delivered online | 5 | 6 |
| Number of educational institutions participating in organised school learning programs | 1,616 | 2,431 |